Dudeism aka the Church of the Latter-Day Dude is a recent organised religion that claims antecedents in Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, Sufism, John Lennonism and Fo’-Shizzle-my-Nizzlism. Its stated philosophy is, ‘Life is short and complicated and nobody knows what to do about it. So don’t do anything about it. Just take it easy, man. Stop worrying so much whether you’ll make it into the finals. Kick back with some friends and some oat soda and whether you roll strikes or gutters, do your best to be true to yourself and others – that is to say, abide.’ It acknowledges that ‘dude’ can be read as gendered and rejects that reading. The religion was conceived by American university graduate Oliver Benjamin (1968– ), the self-styled Dudely Lama, while in northern Thailand on a backpacking journey. Benjamin has described having a transformative experience in 2005 while watching the 1998 Coen brothers’ black comedy movie ‘The Big Lebowski’ that led him to establish the internet Church of the Latter-Day Dude later that year. Dudeism began as a bit of a joke. The religion does not have a fixed position on the existence of one or more creator or other gods; one of the core tenets of Dudeism is that ‘everything is “just, like, your opinion, man”.’ There is a growing body of Dudeist texts, all written in English to date, detailing the philosophy and practices of Dudeism, including the Dude De Ching, a ‘Dudeified interpretation’ of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu. As an indication of the popularity of this worldview, there are purportedly more than 600,000 ordained Dudeist priests all over the world, but the process of ordination is extremely simple, free and carries no obligations. Most USA states allow ordained Dudeist priests the authority to preside over wedding ceremonies. The Big Lebowski, which starred Jeff Bridges playing the character of slacker and bowling enthusiast Jeffrey ‘The Dude’ Lebowski, is the ‘founding myth’ of Dudeism, while the basic teaching is like the Taoist concept of non-resistance: to take things easy, in acceptance that ‘sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you.’ Its ethical position is to recognise that crossing boundaries may cause a world of pain. Dudeism does not have strict rituals but communal recreational activities include bowling and driving around. Membership is open to ‘pretty much everyone’ but Dudeism states its opposition to Nazis, pornographers, reactionaries, fascists and angry cab drivers, among others. There is no fixed hierarchy or authority for the religion. The Dudely Lama considers himself a ‘librarian’ or ‘janitor’ rather than a leader or authority. In 2018 an online international Dudeist learning centre was launched, the unaccredited Abide University and Institute, which readily hands out degrees. The main Dudeist holiday is The Day of the Dude, which falls on 6 March each year and marks the end of the weekish-long Dudeist celebration, Hang-over. 6 March celebrates the 1998 release date of The Big Lebowski and typical observances include watching the sacred movie, drinking white Russians and going bowling. The 9th day of every month is a celebration called St Marty’s Day. Other Dudeist holidays include Take it Easyster (coinciding with Christian Easter), Major Duder (coinciding with Buddhist Magha Puja), Passitover (coinciding with Jewish Passover), Indudependence Day (4 July), Dudeistmas (coincides with Christmas) and more.